How do you learn a new piece?

Yippee!  Got a new piece to learn ( guess what period -hint - check the picture)  Got to admit it, I'm a sucker for new melodies - and as I set about it, I realized that the way I learn new pieces has changed.  Not so much because I was told to do it differently (and I was, repeatedly!) - more because the old way no longer works.  You might ask what was the old way?  I have to admit it: I would just pick a section and play it through over and over until it came together,  perhaps stopping to work out the LH fingering but leaving the RH more or less to chance.
However when you have to think about bass muting, adjusting fingering to make sure you can a) get to the next notes in time and b) play it fast enough and c) hold notes that are supposed to be held - this random approach just doesn't cut it (though it probably works well enough for randomizing item selection for an experiment 😉 ).


It's not that I don't read about the best methods, or listen when my teacher tells me, it's more that I'm too impatient to bother unless I really need to.  Why fix it if it is not broken, right?  I will give myself credit for remembering the advice and dredging it back up when I need it though. Mostly for this I've been recalling a miniscule book, Ricardo Iznaola 'On Practicing' , filled with succinct and useful advice, not surprisingly, on how to practice.  I should go back and look at it again - but remember what I said about being impatient?

OK so how am I currently learning a new piece?

• Identify the first phrase
• Go through it one measure at a time working out the positions/fingering (don't forget to figure out the RH!)   Write them in in pencil.
• Start at the beginning practice one measure at a time not paying too much attention to getting the rhythm right. 
• Repeat but playing in correct rhythm.  
• Work on individual transitions within the measures as necessary.
• This is the fun part -  start at the end of phrase and play the last measure. Then try to hook the previous one onto it and play both.  Then hook on the one before that, etc.
• Finally, start at the beginning, try to play through.  How fast?  as slow as needed to make the hardest transition. Use the metronome to avoid speeding up in the easier bits.
• Repeat for the next phrase
• And start adding dynamics to the part you can play.

I am in no way suggesting this is the best way to learn a piece - merely that it reflects where I am in the evolution my own learning.  In fact somewhere in the back of my head I remember my guitar teacher saying something about incorporating dynamics right from the beginning - but seriously - just don't feel the need to bother with that right now.  (I have a feeling that will come back to haunt me in future though...😏 ).